Joss had been on her way home. She'd been looking forward to collapsing onto the couch and zoning out to crappy TV.

Wait.

She is almost certain that there never used to be a house right there. She's pretty sure she would've noticed it. And there's that little tug in her gut that she learned the hard way not to ignore. She stares at the house for a little while, trying to decide whether or not to approach it.

"Screw it," she mutters, firing off a quick text to let her roommates know she's going to be late, and heads for the door. She looks for a doorbell, and failing that, raps sharply on the door itself.

There's no immediate answer.

Joss sighs, and then knocks again. "Hello? Anyone in? I think I'm lost?"

She looks at the handle, bites her lip and tries it. Just on the off-chance that mysterious houses that randomly appear leave their doors unlocked.

They do not.

"Hello?"

The voice is steady enough, but the tone gives away his confusion.

And there's that tug in her gut again. "Hi," she says to the door. "Uh, look, this might sound really weird, but has this house always been here? Because if it has, I've taken a seriously wrong turn somewhere."

"It hasn't. Any ideas how a house gets misplaced?"

"Well. At least my sense of direction isn't completely shot. Unfortunately I'm not exactly an expert on these matters. But...Depending on how far it got moved, I can think of a few things that might have done it. Also, I'm almost at bad as talking to doors as I am to an answering machine. Uh, that is to say: I really suck at it."

He opens the door, and stands in the doorway.

"Well, hello handsome," Joss says, smirking as she scans up and down his form. "We always have a tornado as option one, although you haven't landed on anyone, small mercies. At least...I don't think you have. I couldn't see any ruby slippers at least. Then there's a handful of creatures and beings who can move stuff, but it's all really range dependent, and unless I know where you started, I can't really make any better guesses than what I've already got, and frankly, you can stop me from babbling at any point you feel like, y'know?"

"I don't think I'm Dorothy. Maybe the Tin Man. I haven't heard of any beings or creatures that have moving houses in their portfolio, either, but maybe that's not a clue."

"I don't recognize her," says the man who suddenly materializes behind him.

Joss chuckles slightly, before starting to check options off on her fingers. "Well, some the Fae could probably manage it, and Reapers have a teleportation thing, never heard of them doing anything this big though. That isn't even really taking other magic users into account, or the various classes of demon and angel out there." She blinks at the new man, but doesn't startle. "And I don't recognise either of you, but I don't think that particularly helps us figure out how you ended up here."

"She can see me! She heard me?"

"...we have a lot to talk about."

"Uh, should I not be able to? You're stood right there? Talking? Normally people can hear and see people stood talking."

Joss takes a moment to think about that, think about how much her gut instinct appears to be doing double-time on the 'something isn't right' and then nods. "I think you might be right. May I come in? I think this will be better discussed away from potential prying ears."

"I'm not sure if you can come in." 

"He's trying to see if you're a vampire. If you're not, it's pretty easy to beat the test. Derek, stand back." 

He steps back.

"Sensible," Joss says as she takes an exaggerated step over the threshold. "Although you should know that it doesn't work so well if you're renting, in student residence or a hotel. And some vampires have found a way around that. You need a very good sense of 'this is mine' for that to work. Uh. Not that I'm a vampire. Scouts honour. I also don't normally babble about the supernatural. Normally my babble is completely benign." She visibly stops herself. "Well? Did I pass?"

"If you were the same kind of vampire as I am, you would have."

"I'll get Allison."

He dematerializes, disappearing in a mist of blue and gray that exactly match his outfit.

Another man waves from the couch, not looking up from his book.

She hums, and watches, curious, at the dissolving. She scans the room, trying to get a measure of the people living here. She doesn't bother responding the absent greeting and returns her attention to the first man. "Joss," she says, doesn't offer a surname, or her full name. Names have power if the right people get their hands on them. She slips her kitbag off her shoulder and tucks it carefully beside the door. She also doesn't offer a hand. She's never been fond of shaking people's hands. "How many people do you have living here anyway?"

"Five, on a bad day. Two, on a good one."

"Four, if you count the ghost. I'm Derek Hale. Over 200 years old, in case that was going to come up."

And this, coming down the stairs, must be Allison.

"Hi. Did you bring us here?"

"Hardly seems big enough. Although if ghosts are involved, I suppose room might be a little less critical." She scans Derek up and down again and winks. "Looking damn good for it I must say. Not an inch of decay or dust in sight. What skin products do you use?"

She laughs nervously at Allison's question. "Blood and bone I hope not! Fairly certain I would've noticed a pretty substantial energy drain if I'd done this. Still mostly human no matter what other strange things are going on with me."

"Uh huh. Derek?"

"I'm not sure yet; ask again later. Joss, how long do you think we have before people start asking questions?"

Joss frowns at that exchange, but focuses on the question. She taps her fingers on her thigh. "That's going to depend on what brought you here. Some of the options could theoretically convince most people that this house has always been here. Others, less so. But this particular road isn't massively busy. A couple of days at least until someone actually questions things if they notice."

"You seem pretty calm. Do things like this happen to you a lot?"

The ghost materializes, with the same swirl of gray and blue that takes the shape of a young man. 

"Everything still works when I do it, and I'm still stuck."

"Not to this magnitude, but, well. It's...been a year." Not since anything, her tone makes that clear, just long, and tiring. "It's just easier to roll with the punches at this point frankly." She turns to the ghost, because: oh, look, a distraction. "Stuck? How locally?" That sounds like another problem to try and solve.

"I can't leave the house yet. I'm working on it."

"Good goal," Joss nods. "How trau- Angels falling, I'm sorry, I really don't know you well enough to ask about a trauma as personal as what you've obviously gone through is. I have a bad habit of prying into these things. Apparently I'm a serial meddler and have a desire to try and fix everything? Or something like that."

"I fell down the stairs and hit my head right there, you can still see it."

He points.

"His boyfriend's fault."

"He was making pancakes."

"He hid your inhaler like a goddamn magpie building a nest."

"Can you tell us more about where we landed?"

Joss stares, because: "He hid your inhaler? What kind of bast-" She cuts herself off again, forcing a smile onto her lips.

Oh, there's a question"You've landed in a fairly quiet area. I mean, there's one of the uni sports complexes about half a mile from here, but it's fairly remote. Not quite the edge of town, but if you walk five minutes any direction but east you're likely to encounter fields. There's shops...uh, left out your front door, right at the end of the road and keep going straight until you reach them. I mean, obviously don't cross the roads without looking, but that goes without saying, why the hell did I just saying it? But yeah, mostly quiet, mostly residential, and mostly people who keep to themselves and try not to see anything that isn't normal. Hell, I've gone on runs with a hellhound around here and no-one noticed the flaming tail. Oh. Yeah. Supernatural is kind of normal? They're not exactly hiding, they're just not advertising their presence."

"It sounds pretty different from home."

"Everyone is hiding back home, although ghosts aren't exactly hiding by choice. And it's just us: ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and humans. Will people be able to tell? That we're not human."

"Ex-boyfriend, technically, since I died on him."

He vanishes.

"He's probably in his room pouting. Nice meeting you, Jess."

He scampers upstairs.

Joss would've responded to the 'ex-boyfriend' comment, but doesn't get a chance. She sighs.

"Don't suck anyone's blood on a street corner or shift in public and you'll be fine," she says. "I mean, there's always a chance hunters will come after you if they notice anything, but again, this area is pretty safe from them. Just...yeah, don't go feeding on or mauling the local populace and you should stay safe. If you do do either of those things, me and mine will be looking for you before any other hunter does." She offers a bright smile. "But I'm sure I don't have to worry about that with you guys. Speaking of, handsome," she turns to Derek, "given you're the vampire, do you need anything? I know a decent blood supplier. If, uh, that works for your kind of vampire?"

"A blood supplier? That should work."

"I can't actually avoid shifting on the full moon. I've been chaining myself up, but not in the house, we don't have anywhere good to put me. Do you have storage units for rent?"

"I'll look their number out then. Got a piece of paper?" She frowns. "Problematic that you can't control that, horrible dynamic.. Not that I know of, but probably. Next full moon is...a week? I think? I'm sure we can figure something out by then. If all else fails I think we can find a remote enough area and get someone to run herd on you so that you don't eat anyone...or we just look further afield for storage options."

"If there are enough things to eat that aren't humans, that might work too. The wolf doesn't just eat nutritious things, it's practically a trash compactor."

"Well, that makes it easier actually. I know at least one estate that's have a problem with overabundance of deer. You taking a few of them out isn't going to even register. Or, if it does, well, I do need more practice hiding bodies, a deer should make a perfectly acceptable substitute..." She looks around quickly, realising what she just said. "Uh, joking? I really don't have many reasons to have to hide bodies."

"That's very generous of you. I'm sorry if we waylaid any longstanding plans."

"What do you want in exchange?"

Joss chuckles. "This is infinitely more interesting that any plans I was likely to have today. Mostly it was go home and probably fall asleep in front of the TV."

"Want?" Joss thinks about that. "Well not being kept out of the loop if you figure out what happened. I'm curious. Oh. And not doing something overtly supernatural that ends up with me having to have another fight with my Dad about indiscriminate Hunting. Family feuds, gotta love 'em." Her tone is light, but her eyes are very tired.

"Avoiding hunting sounds good to me."

And there's the one who uses evaporating as a method of transportation. 

"Hey. Sorry about earlier. Do you want something to eat? We have snacks. I mean, I guess now we have to get new money...what country are we in?"

There have been many times that Joss has wished she could evaporate. Death seems like a little too high a price.

"I am-" Joss starts to refuse, and then realises: "Actually, I'm utterly ravenous. A snack would be excellent. You don't happen to have tea do you?" She's not entirely sure she'll be that lucky. "Welcome to sunny Britain," she spreads her arms wide. "There is a pawn-broker's in town that gives decent exchange rates. Especially buying back currency. Really useful when you actually manage to come back with more money than you left with."

"You do have the States, right? United States of America?"

"Just a minute," she says, and heads into the kitchen.

Joss can see her rifling through the cupboards.

"That's what you get for saving responsibly, Scotty. Now you're here and you don't have a bank."

He comes down the stairs with a case of bottled water.

"Dying makes it hard to withdraw. Is anyone with hands that can touch things going to start on the food?"

"Well, unless it's been stolen since the last time I saw the news, yes, the United States of America is still there." She watches Allison, but keeps her ears on the responsible saving conversation. "It does beg the question as to whether your guys savings and bank accounts were transferred with you. Which would again narrow things down." She smirks slightly. "I would, but, uh, I've always been told it's rude to do anything other than offer assistance when you're a guest in someone's house. That being said. I'm willing to help if someone points out where things are to me?"

"No, don't worry, that was definitely directed at the people who live here."

"I don't eat, it's not my job."

"Der-bear, the cute girl wants you to cook for her, you're doing it."

"Joss, how do you feel about eggs?"

'Der-bear?' Joss mouths, even as she blushes at 'cute girl'. "Eggs are a good quick food. Good protein source as well. I tend to feel positively about them. Unless you're going to do something arcane like add ketchup to them."

"I wouldn't ruin perfectly good eggs."

He sets about trying to cook.

"For someone who hasn't eaten in centuries, he's pretty good."

"Glad to hear it!"

"From the fact you bullied him into cooking I would assume so. So. I'm going to take a wild guess at your being human? You do realise your living arrangements sound like the set-up to a bad joke? 'A vampire, a werewolf, a ghost and a human walk into a house', insert punchline, everyone starts throwing bottles at you."

"Tyson and Scott were living together before he died, and then Tyson needed roommates to afford his expensive habit of suing everyone he could blame for Scott's death. But it turns out werewolves and vampires can see ghosts, and now Tyson likes to pretend he can see him."

"Ah," Joss says, looking down. Then she frowns slightly. "I'm guessing learned magic-supernatural abilities aren't a think for you guys then? Or if they are, they don't affect ability to see ghosts?"

"We haven't found anything yet."

"Witches exist. They're very disturbed people."

"Witches exist? Derek, we talked about sharing, didn't we? It's good for you."

"Well. The ones I've met have all been somewhat peculiar and not entirely...with it, but I never would've called them disturbed. I've heard of some disturbed ones, but they're typically taken care of pretty quickly. Not careful enough. Or taught by people who were very much of the 'supernatural is superior' mindset." She pauses. "It might be worth a try with our kind. Learning mediuming is always an option according to some of my mates? That's fairly...benign as magics go."

"Can mediums see ghosts? That might be nice."

"Derek, do we have mediums too?"

"No appreciation around here, honestly, it's sad. At least Joss likes me."

And here are her eggs.

"It can be pretty hard to weed out fakes from the real ones," Joss admits slowly. "But the verified one I met could at the very least speak to ghosts. Their response to some of them...suggested they could see them as well." She grins at Derek, taking the eggs. "Not to burst your bubble, but I like anyone who feeds me, handsome. But I'm sure that's not the only reason I like you."

"Derek isn't used to people liking him, it's sort of a novel experience."

"I like you, Derek. Maybe when we're more settled in, I can meet a medium. So far I've only been able to make the sink act up."

"Is he asking about mediums?"

"He wants to meet one, said he can't do anything besides the sink."

"Not sure whether a medium would be able to teach you how to do anything poltergheisty, but I don't know. I didn't spend that much time around them. Their energy can be a bit unnerving." She takes another bite of the rapidly disappearing eggs. "By the way, handsome, these are really good eggs. Thanks again."

"You want bacon? I think we have bacon." 

He searches the fridge for bacon.

"Can someone, meaning me, become a medium?"

"Ooh, bacon. I'm not going to say no- Uh, if I'm not eating you guys out of house and home that is?"

Joss wiggles one hand from side-to-side, palm down. "From my understanding, mediuming is almost exclusively a learned skill. I can't personally teach you, apparently I get it built in along with whatever other supernatural upgrades I accidentally ended up with. I should be able to find you a teacher though."

"It's not a problem."

"Actually, we should make sure we have some way to buy more food before we use it all. Joss, you said there might be demand for a trash compactor? It probably doesn't pay, does it."

"...I might actually be able to arrange payment. I know the estate owner. Their daughter is one of my housemates. They may want to ask you questions about the nature of your shift, but... I can't imagine they would be unwilling to spare a bit of money for the service."

"I think we're very lucky to have you, and not someone else. Thanks."

Bacon! Cooking for people is great!

(The bacon did not come out as good as the eggs, but it still tastes like bacon.)

"I know what it's like to land up with nothin', and I was lucky that my mates rallied round. I can help, so I will." She eats the bacon with as much gusto as she ate the eggs, and with a quick thumbs up. "I do have to quickly query, before I bring Jez and Beel into this. You don't have any issues with angels and demons do you? I can work around that, but it wouldn't be ideal."

"..."

"Excuse him, I think some lingering theology is giving him indigestion. That sounds fine, we don't have those at home." 

"...are Jez and Beel nicknames for the obvious?" 

"If the obvious is Jezebel and Beelzbub, yup. Jez's is a technically fallen angel, met Beel when she was younger, fell in love, the two of them are actually wonderful. As it turns out angel and demon aren't synonymous with good and bad. Who would've thought?"

"Have they thought about calling themselves something that doesn't come with lingering theology attached?"

"At this point there's hundreds if not thousands of years of history with the names. They are all very precious about their identity. You probably have a point, but arguing with them is pointless. Especially when they do fulfill..roles. Angels look out for the living. Demons watch out for the dead. Neither of them have been particularly forthcoming about the existence of religion-typical heaven or hell, but nobody is." She tilts her head slightly. "Don't think I want to know to be honest."

Nod.

"Anything else with mythical names out there? Or does everyone use them?"

"Do me a favour and define 'mythical'? Considering the fact that for me, these creatures aren't mythical, whether they come from myths and legends or not. I don't think there's anything with the same connotations as angels and demons? There's the Fae, hellhounds, vampires, witches, shifters, we don't have werewolves exactly, sirens, reapers, and a dozen other things that aren't occurring to me right now."

"Maybe my definition was too expansive. Those are all things I meant. Do you not have creatures that people think don't exist? Maybe some people seriously believed in them, but now it's superstition?"

"Explain 'reapers'."

"Centaurs and cyclops as far as I'm aware. There's probably others I can't name off the top of my head again."

She considers that. "They can teleport," she says after a couple of seconds. "But they can teleport both living and ghosts. So they got this reputation for being the ones who collected the dead. 'Grim Reapers' as it were. They tend towards an almost tribal society. Also bone blades in their wrists. Like, literally under the skin. So messy when they decide to use them. Good guys to have at your back in a fight if you can gain their loyalty though."

"They don't actually collect the dead, though. Are angels or demons involved with that?"

"Maybe? I was never all that concerned with what happened after death. Worth asking them I guess. And if they aren't responsible, there's a fair chance they know who is. Or know who to ask to find out. If you want to know?"

"If there is something...it might not apply to us, anyway."

"So what's our plan for when the cops show up? I'm too obnoxious to go to jail." 

"I think being obnoxious will be the least of your- oh my god, brain, filters exists for a reason. Ignore me." She shakes her head, reminding herself forcefully that this isn't one of her flatmates she's teasing but someone she barely knows. "Why are you anticipating the rozzers showing up anyway? Chances are if someone calls them about a randomly appearing house they're going to assume that person...is...insane. Unless one of the hunters on the force hears about it. Crap. That could be interesting..."

"Even if no one saw us appear, will they just ignore a new house that they can't explain? Are we in an isolated area?"

She takes a look out their window.

The area is not built up, but nor is it completely isolated. They're not the only house on the street, but they do appear to have landed in an area where there are large patches of greenspace and tall fences between the quaint, slightly-ramshackle houses. Across from them there is just open fields, with a forest just visible in the distance. There are no cars visible on the narrow road that runs between the houses and the fields - barely wide enough for one car to pass.

"We might be able to pull it off with the right support. Do we have that?"

"If you're asking whether I'm up for helping, I am. Just let me know what you need. I'm almost positive my friends'll pitch in as well. They're good people, and they've got this weird 'supernatural is a massive, quite dysfunctional family' thing going on. If nothing else, they'll make sure you have a safe haven here. Speaking of supernatural, handsome, how critical is us getting you in touch with that blood supplier?"

"I can use Ty in a pinch, but it's nice to have options."

"Touching. Also, ouch, good to know I'm your second choice."

"Do you want to be his first choice for blood drinking?"

"Wow Scott, good to see you're as kinky as ever. Anyway, blood suppliers?"

"People who supply blood, because believe it or not, not many people enjoy being fed off directly." She pauses. "Okay, I'm lying. There's a really weird subset of people who really enjoy being fed off directly. I don't get it personally," she shudders, "but hey, it's a thing. So. Because, on the whole, keeping vampires from preying on regular humans who are happily content to ignore the supernatural is just plain common sense they found another way to do it."

"Wait. Was that what you wanted to know? Or did you want the number?" She pulls out her phone to actually find the number.

"I wanted to know all that. Derek will just take the number."

"...is there an afterlife?"

"Gods I hope not. ...Sorry. That must sound awful." She sighs, and looks down. "Logic dictates that there most likely is. The sheer amount of other things that exist, I'd be surprised if some form of afterlife didn't exist. I just- I guess I was looking forward to not existing. ...Jeez. When did I get that fatalistic? And when did I completely lose my filter?"

Then, quickly and with false brightness: "You got a pen and paper handy, handsome? I'll scribble this number down for you."

He holds out his hand for her to write on.

Joss manages to fish out a Sharpie. "Normally when I'm scribbling a number down on the back of someone's hand, it's because I'm giving them my own you realise, don't you, handsome? Speaking of..." She adds a second number to his hand. "First one's the supplier, second one's me. Tell the supplier I gave you the number and not to pull any fast crap on you or I'll let Des or Nik know."

"Thank you. I appreciate this so much."

"That's his dead wife face, you're SOL there. I'm pretty sure everyone in this house is single."

"I had a boyfriend, I'm dead, and I don't think she thinks of us as interchangeable."

"And I'm tragically one of two straight people in this house, which makes your attempt to flirt with our houseguest embarrassingly transparent."

"Condolences," Joss says, but doesn't seem entirely upset by that fact.

"I...kind of flirt with...most people?" she admits, giving a slightly embarrassed grin. "It's fun, okay?" She runs her fingers through her hair. "And also how I seem to communicate with about two thirds of the people I meet?"

She looks around. "I should, however, probably be getting home. You guys going to be alright for tonight? I'll give Jez a shout and see if she's free tomorrow?"

"That would be nice. Thank you, Joss."

"You're welcome," she says, grabbing her kitbag. "Well, if you are, indeed, still here, I'll see you in the morning? Nothing else you need? You can call if you think of anything between times, okay?"

She pauses to see if anyone has any thoughts.

"We can handle one night. Thanks."

She grins, touches two fingers to her forehead, and heads off.

Is there anything the house's inhabitants need to discuss tonight?

"So. Over-under on her being a witch?"

"I trust her. She has honor."

"I feel like you guys are missing the point here. Someone sent us here for a reason, this kind of thing doesn't happen by accident."

"We don't know how her world works. It could just be luck that we ended up here."

"Good luck, or bad?"

"We should worry about it in the morning. She promised her help, and we shouldn't reject it."

"She seemed alright. I don't know if we can rely on her, but she seemed genuine."

"You guys are way too trusting."

"We don't have much choice. We don't know how to get back, or if we even can."

"And on that note, I think I'm going to my room."

He leaps up the stairs.

"Does he always have to be so dramatic?"

"It keeps things fresh. He's probably run out of things to do that don't feel repetitive."

"I think I'm turning in, too. I don't really want to mess around with electricity tonight."

Ty and Scott have a few things to say to each other first. 

Eventually, though, they all head off to bed.

The next morning is overcast, but the street around them continues to be quiet.

Joss jogs along the street, dressed a little smarter than the sports gear she was in last night, and taps on the door.

"You really didn't have to come with me," she says looking down to beside her.

The large dog beside her looks up at her, as though that was a very stupid thing to say.

Allison answers.

"Hi. Is that your dog?"

The dog looks offended.

"Flatmate," she corrects. "He just...didn't feel like being in human form this morning. He thinks he's more intimidating like this. He's a puppy really. Rex, Allison, Allison, Rex."

"...ignore Derek. Come in, both of you." 

She steps aside, gesturing them in.

Rex blocks Joss from entering first and pads forward, sniffing around as he does so.

"Stop being so rude," Joss chides him as she follows. "Sorry about him. How're you this morning? Did you guys sleep okay?" She holds up a bag. "I brought replacement eggs and bacon."

"That's thoughtful of you."

She takes the bag and goes to the kitchen.

Derek is already sitting on the couch- or he was, until Rex came in.

Now he's standing perfectly still, watching.

"Rex," she says, clicking her tongue immediately afterwards. "Human form please. I would know if there was an immediate risk here."

The air around the dog blurs, and there's an unpleasant crunching of bones, and then a young man is stood there. "Yeah, but your self-preservation instincts still need work."

He looks over at Derek. "Rex," he thrusts out his hand.

He doesn't take it.

"What are you?"

"Derek, stop. I'm sorry about him, he's just in a mood about all the new stuff around here. He's bad with change." 

"S'cool," Rex shrugs. "Joss had exactly the same reaction when she figured us out. 'M a hellhound. Less focus on the hell these days. I mean, we get the flaming tail and dual forms, but we're mostly nice people. What are you?" That's aimed at Derek.

He looks at Scott and then back at Joss, and lifts an eyebrow.

"Ghost," she says quietly.

"That explains the lack of scent at least..."

"Yeah, we generally don't interact with things. Objects, air...most humans can't see us, but vampires like Derek can. And werewolves like Allison."

"My ears are burning. Thanks again for the food, Joss."

Rex gives a very distinct impression of his tail drooping. "That sounds lonely," he even sounds like his tail is drooping. "We should find a way to fix that."

"Well, I did eat it, and we still haven't figured out finances for you yet, so it was only fair that I replace it. Jez says she'd love to meet you at some point today, whenever's good with you."

"My calendar is looking pretty free. I'm ready whenever she is."

"I'll be upstairs if anyone needs me. No one need me."

He ascends.

"Ty tries really hard, so it's not the worst thing. Most of my roommates can see me."

"Well then we need to find a medium to make that 'all'. It can't be good for Ty not being able to see you when the others can."

Joss reaches out, almost entirely absently to scratch the back of Rex's neck. "Next question is do you want to do it here or on more neutral territory?"

"Will we offend anyone if we do it here?"

"Not at all, Jez wants you to be comfortable." She pulls out her phone. "Don't be surprised if she turns up shortly after I-"

There's a polite tap at the door.

"...She could have at least waited for me to text her," Joss sighs. "How did she even know?!"

"It's convenient..."

She smells their visitor before she opens the door.

Their visitor has a warm, homely scent - cinnamon and woodsmoke - and does indeed appear to be female.

She opens the door slowly.

"Hello. I'm Allison. Sorry about all the fuss."

"That's quite alright," the woman at the door says with a warm smile. (The smile honestly feels like it is physically warming you.) "It's hardly your fault after all. Jezebel Apollyon," she holds out a tanned hand.

She shakes it firmly. Her grip is stronger than most humans, but not exceptionally so.

"Allison. I heard you could help us with one of our problems?"

Scott waves.

Jezebel simply smiles, and nods. "Well, I'm certainly going to help you with one, and I'll certainly see what I can find out about why you are here in the first place. I have a few avenues that Joss doesn't have direct access to. "So, you would be the werewolf and...you must be Scott, the ghost?"

She pauses before offering her hand. "I am not entirely sure whether our paradigms will meet, but I have been able to touch ghosts before."

She shoots a look at Joss and Rex who both look like they're about to burst out laughing.

Handshake?

(Ty comes down the stairs, stopping just behind Allison.)

Handshake and a warm smile! "Do you mind if I ask how long it's been?"

Jezebel glances over to Ty and nods slightly. "Jezebel," she introduces her self.

"It's been a year since he died."

"Thank you," he says wonderingly.

The warm smile stays, and Jezebel doesn't drop his hand immediately, her other hand patting the back of his. "That's a long time."

She glances at Ty. "I'll see about locating a medium to teach you how to see Scott."

Then she turns her attention back to Allison. "So, Joss said you needed somewhere safe to roam during a full moon?"

"That's right. Anywhere I won't run into people is fine, unless there are any wild animals that need protecting. Derek will want a source of blood, but he won't ask you. He's hiding."

"Is there somebody official we should talk to? About- parking our house here."

Jezebel laughs quietly. "This is unfortunately not a situation we've encountered before, if there is an official in charge of things like this, I certainly don't know about it."

She hums thoughtfully. "Our estate will almost certainly suffice. And there are protections in place to make sure that no-one can stray on or off the estate, I'm sure we can adjust those to adequately ensure both your safety and the safety of the people around you."

She hums quietly. "I assume you set Derek up with a supplier?"

"Yeah," Joss nods. "The one the twins use."

"Then unless he wishes to meet me, despite my own curiosity, I won't push the matter."

"Me or Scott can try to talk him around, if you wanted to stay for a while. It never works when Ty tries it, or they'd both be down here already."

"You probably should meet all of us, since you're going to help us. Derek isn't rude, he's just...bad with people."

"Then, if I am not intruding, I will remain. Please reassure him that I don't take easy offence if that's what he is concerned regarding?"

"Don't worry about it, I'll get him."

He vanishes.

And indeed, Derek comes down the stairs a minute later.

"Hello. Have a seat, make yourself comfortable."

"Thank you very much," Jezebel inclines her head and instead of taking a seat immediately, offers her hand. "You must be Derek, I'm Jezebel Apollyon."

He shakes her hand.

"Excuse my...lingering theology. Derek Hale, vampire and red-blooded American."

"Quite alright," she assures him, smiles softly. And then, abruptly, there's a set of white wings apparent from her shoulders, feathers lined with what appears to be thin lines of flames. "'Lingering theology' is an excellent way of describing it," she says with a self-depreciating little laugh and a shrug that ruffles the wings.

"Really, Jez?" Joss asks, sounding amused.

He admires observes the wings.

"They look beautiful."

Scott returns, gaping at Jezebel.

"So about our future," Ty says as he comes downstairs, "I'm thinking we should hash things out before anyone tries shooting at us."

She folds her wings neatly, and inclines her head. "Thank you, Allison."

"I am definitely in favour of preventing anybody being shot," Jezebel agrees. "And, with any luck, that will be fairly simple. Joss?"

"I mean, I've still got a couple of hunter contacts talking to me. And to be honest, even my Dad wouldn't be dumb enough to attack someone you've put under your protection."

"So we're done? Cool. Does this place have video games?"

"What's our legal status here? Who's in charge, and who knows about us?"

"Hm, legal status is tentative," Jezebel doesn't look entirely content with that. "Let me talk with a couple of my friends in the Home Office, we can work something out to ensure that no-one questions your right to stay here at the very least. As for who knows, at the moment I believe it's just ourselves, pending anyone having really noticed your house appearing. The mundane humans are surprisingly good at ignoring the peculiar."

"Mine and Rex's flatmates, but they're not going to tell anyone dangerous that's for sure."

"Is there anything we can do to help out around here?"

"Is that a 'no' on the video games?"

"No, we got video games!" Rex says with a bounce.

"Don't eat the locals is normally considered helpful," Joss says in a tone that indicates she's entirely aware that that's not the most helpful statement.

"Depends on how precisely you wish to be helpful. If by helpful you mean support yourselves, there's a variety of jobs around that we can point you in the direction of?"

"Me and Scott are playing with Rex. You guys can worry about our cash flow."

"Jobs would be nice. I'm not sure what we can get without documentation."

Rex bounces again, grinning broadly.

"He also likes playing fetch."

That earns Joss a half-hearted and playful swipe from Rex, although she ducks easily out of the way, giggling.

"Children," Jezebel admonishes with gentle amusement. She smiles back at Derek. "Leave papers to me and my friends in the home office, we'll have you sorted by the end of the week. Oh, I should probably ensure the council doesn't attempt to list the land you landed on for sale or something. It won't be a problem, but I rather think someone buying your house out from under you would be inconvenient."

"Especially for Derek. Vampires need an owner to invite them in."

"Does that match? I'm kind of curious how similar all of our kinds of people are. We don't have any angels or demons-"

"We do. Have demons."

"Okay. Um, anyway, it's just personal curiosity, not a big deal."

"Official ownership means less than your sense of ownership over a location for our vampires," Jezebel says easily. "Jim and Del rent and the one time a vampire tried to get into their house the poor thing didn't just get stopped, he got actively repelled. And dhamphiers and dhamphieras are not subject to these constraints."

She hesitates at Derek's words. "I am unsure how you're defining 'demons' in this case?"

"Our demons are- unfriendly, and I wouldn't recommend meeting them. I'm sure yours are different."

"Were you ever going to mention that we had demons?"

"I was hoping it wouldn't come up."

"We have Destiny, GTA, Skyrim, and Undertale."

"They do sound somewhat different to our own, although I certainly wouldn't suggest encountering one of ours without prior preparation." She looks between Scott and Derek. "As a rule the supernatural does have a tendency to function on a 'need to know' basis here. And sometimes it's hard to know what people need to know."

"Oooh, which GTA?"

"Why are these things need to know? The fear of blowback from the less supernatural, or what we'd do if everyone knew about us?"

"GTA V, the only one that works on this console. If Scott didn't completely hate it, I might play it more often. He can't even hurt fictional people."

"I'm just not that into video games."

"There are hunters who would seek to kill us. And not all our factions coexist peaceably. It is wiser to conceal your nature until you know you will not make the person an enemy. Frequently easier said than done as Jocelyn can certainly attest to."

"At no point have I attempted to kill any of you," Joss protests mostly cheerfully, although there's a flicker of guilt under her words.

"Ooh. Haven't had a chance to play that one yet. Lets do this!"

"Politics," he summarizes disdainfully.

"Is there any way to learn about who hates who?"

Ty sets up the game.

"About those jobs- I'm not sure how much to assume is the same, but I assume that since I look like a teenager, I'll have trouble getting anything good?"

"You can pass for older. We should probably all legally be adults. Me and Ty actually are, it's just you and Derek who don't really count."

Rex settles near Ty, grinning.

"I've got some information on the various factions, I'll make you a copy."

She considers. "Well, there are certainly forgers who deal in identity papers for those of us who do not die. Give me your age preferences and I'll take care of it, unless you'd rather I simply put you in touch with such a person?"

"And I mean, it's not thrilling work, but the supermarkets around here pay you damn well to stack shelves and occasionally work a till."

"Beel can always use more people to do intern-style duties in the office, and I'm not much different frankly..."

"I think I could be happy with customer service."

"How good are your forgers?"

The game is full of violence and mayhem. Ty finds surprisingly creative ways to subvert the law and harm strangers.

Rex seems happy with creative ways of subverting the laws! At least as far as a game goes.

"Our forgers are excellent. They have experience providing papers for people older than yourself."

"I'll grab you some application forms," Joss offers. "There's online options as well if you'd prefer?"

"I've always wanted to be a professor, but a phD might take too long for me to hold on to one identity. How hard is it to get me what I'd need to teach high school?"

"Forms would be great, thanks."

Scott watches them play, offering running commentary on crime statistics and game development.

"What subject would you like to teach?"

"History. It's on the nose, I know, but I always liked it."

"Appropriate," she agrees. "I'll find you a couple of textbooks to make sure there's nothing vastly different between our worlds."

Ty kills several people.

Scott whispers intel to Rex; he predicts what Ty is going to do most of the time.

“Thank you.”

"You're very welcome, my dear. I could hardly leave you completely stranded."

Rex will take whatever Intel he can get!

Derek ignores the video games. Too much noise, too many stimuli. He prefers books.

"I don't just want to take advantage of you. Is there anything you can use our...unique skills for?"

Scott's intel only goes so far. He seems less than comfortable with the hyper-realistic forms of violence, and eventually steps away.

Ty, oblivious, engages in trash talk.

Most of it riffs off Rex being a dog. It's not very good.